wfn.org | Testimony at Anglican African AIDS conference: "Get tested"

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ACNS 2589 - SOUTHERN AFRICA - 16 August 2001

All African Anglican Conference on HIV/AIDS:
Ugandan priest testimony at AIDS conference: "Get tested"

Boksburg

13 August 2001

By Jim Rosenthal
with Miles Giljam and Siphiwe Sithole

An Anglican Priest living with AIDS has compared his feelings, about the All
Africa Anglican AIDS Conference in Johannesburg, to those of Simeon when he
first encountered the infant Christ at the temple. "'My Lord now you can
allow your servant to depart.' For those of us who have been praying and
fasting and waiting for the time when our church can break the silence and
grapple with the issues... this is a very powerful opportunity and a Kairos
moment for us."

Praising the Archbishops of Cape Town and Canterbury, Father Gideon
Byamugisha of Uganda, told the 130 delegates and partners that the Anglican
Communion is a "church that cares". Throughout his 40 minutes address he
consistently urged the need for "testing" for HIV.

Father Gideon spoke of his own journey and his personal confrontation with
his being infected in 1992.

He told of one parish assignment where "some people refused to come to Holy
Communion" if he was the celebrant. At a meeting in Rwanda clergy tried to
deny him the right to speak, saying, "you have no testimony".

The assembly of bishops, clergy and laity, from around the African
continent, were moved by the young priest's words, with "Amens" and applause
regularly interrupting his discourse. Father Gideon spoke of AIDS as "not
just a disease, but a symptom of so many things that have gone wrong. We
prefer to locate the things that go wrong in sexual acts, but I think it is
a wider spectrum in society, economics and politics."

Father Gideon's theme stressed the need to enable and resource AIDS work as
well as the need for advocacy around the Communion. He stressed that we
should not fail God. "God wants something to be done. He chooses his time,
his place and the people to use. This is the place, this is the time and we
are the people!" Fr Gideon spoke of the reality that Africans are "dying of
preventable illnesses including AIDS", stressing the fact that prevention is
possible and "programs should be integrated" and not just focused on
HIV/AIDS. Otherwise, he warned, "after AIDS something else will come".

Speaking of the situation in Uganda he told of how HIV/AIDS is manageable
and preventable. "One thing that sometimes makes me cry, alone in my bed, is
that despite all the knowledge I have on theology, geography, education, how
did I get this virus? If I had as much information on HIV, there is a very
very big possibility I would not be infected".

He spoke with a critical note on the ABC programme of 'Abstinence, Being
faithful and Condoms'. "The ABC is simplistic, stigmatising and misleading".
He pointed out that "Sixty-one percent of all African women living with
HIV/AIDS have been in a faithful, monogamous relationship." Father Gideon
said, that testing is key. "When I knew [I was positive] I said that I have
the responsibility not to give the virus to anybody else. But other people
do not know. This is something that we as a church should really tackle."

Father Gideon hoped for a future with people who "have survived AIDS".
Modifying sexual behaviour was essential and he called on HIV infected
people must pledge "never to infect anyone else". He backed this up with
horrific stories of women who have been ""infected on their wedding night"
and the plight women face regarding sex.

He spoke of the stress of clergy with HIV/AIDS who had little support and
who were afraid to come out and declare their condition. He asked leaders to
help organise "a retreat for HIV positive clergy" in Africa. "When people
are infected with HIV they go to a pastor. But when a pastor is infected,
where does he go?" Gideon asked.

Following Father Gideon's testimony many in the group spontaneously sang "We
praise your Lord Jesus, your blood has cleansed us, and we are thankful". Th
e Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, responded to the address by
calling it "a very powerful testimony and we thank God for you". He spoke of
Fr Gideon's address at the 2001 Primates Meeting that moved the Anglican
leaders to makes "AIDS a priority".

After questions, the assembly sang quietly "I am the Lord that healeth thee"
before the chaplain, the Very Revd Rowan Smith led a meditation on the
cross. A large cross stands in the assembly hall, in front of which stands a
large iron sculpture of Africa, supporting candles marking the areas where
the delegates minister.

The Bishop of Pretoria, the Rt. Revd Jo Seoka, spoke of Father Gideon's
presentations as "compassionate and eloquent" and joined with the emphasis
on being tested. One delegate even suggested that everyone at the meeting be
tested voluntarily during the conference. Bishop Seoka told of how the
Anglican bishops in Southern Africa had all agreed to be voluntarily tested
for HIV in 2000. He labeled the pandemic "a killer".

The health clinic in Uganda, supervised by Fr Gideon, is named for
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey. Archbishop Carey visited and
dedicated the facility in 1998 during a visit with his wife and staff to
Uganda.

Just a few weeks ago father Gideon visited Archbishop and Mrs. Carey at
Lambeth Palace, London. In a newspaper article in The Sunday Times magazine,
Archbishop Carey, speaking of the Ugandan priest, said, "He felt that he
could either lie back and scream at the world, or it could fight it. And he
decided to galvanise the church. He was the first church leader in Africa to
come and declare he had aids. He gave others permission to speak about it."
Father Gideon's comment in the magazine included, "I could die at any time,
but sometimes I feel that with the love and care from those like our
archbishop, I could live much longer".

The conference continues through Thursday. The afternoon consisted of
workshops on gender, leadership, orphans, care, death and dying, men as
partners and care.

"People are not testing for HIV, they are not abstaining, they are not using
condoms - so should we be so surprised that our infections are rising? So I
ask people that the emphasis put on lawful sex should also be put on safe
sex." Father Gideon

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